Does Ontario allow off grid solar energy for home use?

If you are currently connected to the grid and are trying to divorce yourself from Hydro-1, this isn't the time. For two reasons. Current programs are paying over $0.54 for electricity you generate and you only pay probably $0.10 or $0.12 cents for it. You are better off to sell it. The other reason is that the cost of the batteries you would need to do this properly are still quite expensive. It would be a very long time before you "saved back" the cost of the entire installation.

However, if you are not connected to the grid and would spend many thousands of dollars getting connected, an off-grid installation does make sense.

In a few short years from now the battery cost should come down to where it makes sense to be self sufficient, but not right now.

The other way you can do this is what we call "net-metering". At night when you use electricity the Hydro-1 meter is running! During the day when you are generating, the meter is running backwards! Hopefully at the end of the month you have genereated more than you used and your "net" bill is nothing! The beauty of this method is that if you happen to have an equipment malfunction you will still have electricity, where on a stand alone system you would not.

I sell grid tied and off grid installations across Ontario and would be more than happy to entertain a conversation outside this forum if you like.

1

Yes Jaime, they allow it. What you're hearing is that renewable energy sources in many areas can now be tied to the grid, which cuts down on the amount of equipment the homeowner needs to purchase. Off grid can be easier to install and use for many reasons, but it isn't for everyone. In the United States, there are well over 100,000 homes and businesses that use solar power for at least some of their energy, most of them are off grid systems that run certain equipment, or provide backup power for important items. Our home was set up this way for 11 years. Our solar array and wind turbine fed into a large battery bank. The batteries then powered a device called an inverter, that converts the battery power to household AC electricity. If the batteries ever ran down too far, the house had a transfer switch that switched it over to the utility grid for a day or so until the solar and wind could catch up. These systems are called, "Stand Alone," and operate both in homes that have no grid power, our homes like ours that do, but with homeowners that prefer not to use it.

Keep in mind that whatever you install, whether it is tied to your city's grid or stands alone must still meet all electrical codes. It doesn't mean you can't do the work yourself, it just has to be approved, permitted, and then inspected. In our home, since the net metering law took effect 2 years ago, we have replaced our large battery bank with a small one that can only carry the home for one night, and are now sending all our excess out to the grid each day, then buying back some at night. The choice is yours. If you are serious about doing this, the first thing to do is get you house in order, it is so much cheaper to reduce electrical use and save a dollar on utility power than buying equipment to produce that dollars worth of energy yourself. Check out some of the sources below and try to get to an energy fair listed in the back of Home Power Magazine, we did 12 years ago, and here we are today. Take care Jaime, Rudydoo

residing off grid has no different benefit except saving the cost of a grid connection. Get image voltaic warm water, convinced. if you're in an astonishing windy spot or in a sturdy section for solar then this may be low-fee, yet there is the cost of grid ties for promoting unused electricity again to the grid. i'd look at making an investment the money in a wind or image voltaic farm, I could imagine it may be a lot extra powerful way of utilising the capital, and extra helpful politically.

There were so many woodworking plans with this collection and you will not believe this but there are over thousands plans in the one package deal. Go here https://tr.im/4dZSW

This is really something to find that many all together. For someone like me who is just really starting to get involved with woodworking this was like letting me loose in a candy store and telling me I could have anything I wanted. That was my dream when I was a kid.

2